Abstract

Andrea Cayley will discuss the importance of seeking accountability in international and national courts for the destruction of cultural heritage.When international prosecutors look to bring cases for the destruction of cultural heritage, they are faced with comments such as ‘how can you focus on buildings when so many people have died’ or as Prof. Cayley was told when working on the prosecution of Pavle Strugar for attacks on Dubrovnik, Croatia, a protected UNESCO world heritage site, these are “only broken stones.” In fact, the US Department of Defense has stated that the first indicator of a genocide risk is an attack on cultural heritage. Why is the destruction of cultural heritage an essential part of charge of crimes against humanity or genocide? What is the legal framework of prosecuting these crimes and what are the evidentiary challenges? What is the current situation in Ukraine and what is being done to prosecute these crimes?

About Andrea Cayley

Andrea Matačić Cayley, J.D. Ph.D., the Executive Director of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law’s Washington D.C. program, has 20 years of experience working as a war crimes prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts Cambodia. She worked with UNESCO to prepare the indictment and prosecution of the most significant case of cultural property destruction in Yugoslavia (Prosecutor v. Pavle Strugar IT-01-42-A) and worked on the prosecution of numerous Bosnian cases where the destruction of Bosnian Muslim heritage was found to be a crime against humanity. She has advised on universal jurisdiction cases brought against Liberian as well as Syrian and Ukrainian war criminals. She has been part of the NATO cultural property advisory since 2016 and is a coordinator of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory group for Ukraine, the official US/UK/EU response to war crimes occurring in Ukraine. She leads the cultural heritage advisory for ACA. In November 2023, Andrea co-founded the Heritage Warfare Consortium, a partnership between ASU, the University of Pennsylvania, and Copenhagen University. This consortium brings a multi-disciplinary approach to the protection of cultural heritage and to accountability for cultural destruction. Andrea holds a BA from Columbia University, an MA in Slavic Studies from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, a JD from Temple University, and a PhD in International Law from Leiden University.

This event is co-sponsored by Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW), the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies (CIAMS), the College of Arts & Sciences, Cornell Law School, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, and the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.